


Take a Break

by fantasyseal



Category: Sleepless Domain (Webcomic)
Genre: Bedsharing, F/F, Kicks Loves Undine, Pre-Relationship, Sleepover Fic, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-17 22:59:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15472020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fantasyseal/pseuds/fantasyseal
Summary: Undine's tired and Kokoro's dorm is way closer than her house.





	Take a Break

_“The time is now two AM. The Inner Barrier will deactivate shortly. Please make sure the streets are clear of monsters, and take care on your way home.”_

Kokoro sighs with relief. It hadn’t been the worst night, pretty normal for once, but it was Zoe’s first night out with them, and their powers were still clicking together. Zoe and Undine both seem tired, too, sitting down as one.

“Where are we?” Undine asks, leaning back against a wall. Kokoro looks around. She still doesn’t know where Undine lives, but she’s seen her heading for the train a few times, so it must be too far to walk.

“Near the botanical gardens,” Zoe offers, and Undine moans.

“My house is on the other side of the city…”

“We’re pretty close to Future’s Promise!” Kokoro says, looking around. “I might get home on time, for once.” Snoozy was getting pretty annoyed with how late she’d been getting back recently.

Undine looks off toward the horizon and droops over. She seems tired, and Kokoro wonders if she hasn’t been pushing too hard again. The MGPTC has been rough on her, especially the physical training, and she’s been expanding the limits of her magic, too…

“You can stay with me,” Kokoro blurts out before she really knows what she’s doing. “I think we’re pretty close to my dorm.”

Undine blinks at her in surprise. “Is that okay? Will your RA mind?”

“She’s not the boss of me!” Kokoro replies, scrunching up her nose.

Undine laughs. “I don’t want to make trouble for you…”

Zoe nudges Undine. “You’re always…” She stops and looks down. They’re trying to teach her to be more assertive, but she gets overwhelmed so easily (especially by Kokoro, who’s learning to keep her motions extra small and slow around Zoe), and it’s going slowly. “…always telling me not to worry so much.”

Undine blushes. “You’re right…” She stands up and offers Kokoro a hand. Kokoro tries hard not to blush at the gesture. “Thank you, Kokoro.”

“My house is near here, too,” Zoe says. “But Claire’s family is still staying there, so…”

“Don’t worry about it!” Kokoro says, much too loudly. She’s finding herself mostly occupied by _Undine staying over._ “Get home safely!”

Zoe smiles that soft, shy little smile that’s been coming out around Undine for a while now, and more and more around Kokoro too. “See you tomorrow.” She runs away, lifting her hand in a farewell wave.

“Right, so this way…” Kokoro says, gesturing toward the dorms that lie just off Future’s Promise proper. She de-transforms as she comes in, and Suzy looks up.

“You’re actually early,” she says, blinking in disbelief, and then notices Undine and tries to look busy. “Ah, Alchemical Water…”

Undine’s face falls just a little at the title, and Kokoro tries to smooth things over. “Snoozy, this is Undine, she’s staying with me tonight.”

“Sure,” Suzy says, still trying not to look at Undine. Kokoro grabs Undine and pulls her toward her room before Suzy can change her mind.

“Shhhh, Kicks,” Kokoro whispers, opening the door and pushing Undine in first. Undine detransforms, her Future’s Promise uniform reappearing as her dress fades into blue sparkles.

“Kicks?” Undine repeats, before Kokoro’s cat appears, twining around her legs with a pleased _prrrrrrrr._

“I know I’m not allowed,” Kokoro says, “I just…found her one night out patrolling, and I couldn’t leave her…”

“Kicks,” Undine says, smiling and sitting down so Kicks can sniff her hand properly. Kicks purrs and bumps her head against Undine’s hand before settling in Undine’s lap. Undine scratches her chin, resulting in more loud purring and half-shut cat eyes.

Her cat loves Undine.

Kokoro takes a moment to re-compose herself from the sight of her (unofficial) teammate petting her cat, which is unexpectedly adorable (Undine is so much like a cat herself already…), and Undine looks up. “Ah, sorry, I’m being rude…”

“Don’t worry about it!” Kokoro flaps her hand. “Kicks really likes you.”

Undine laughs and gives Kicks another scratch behind her ears. Kicks yawns and gets up, rubbing against Undine’s hand one last time before going over to her food bowl and letting out a displeased _mow_ at the amount of food left in it.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll feed you in the morning,” Kokoro tells her. “I’m gonna change into my pajamas, Undine, okay?”

“Okay,” Undine says, already shucking off her jacket and folding it neatly. Kokoro grabs her pajamas and ducks into the bathroom, changing as fast as she can and exiting again.

Undine looks up and gets the particular _look_ in her eye that she’d gotten when Kokoro told her her name.

“I know, my dad gave them to me…”

“Cute,” Undine whispers like she can’t entirely help herself. She shakes her head and looks around. “Um, where am I sleeping?”

Kokoro feels her ears turn red as she looks at her one dorm bed, definitely not sized for two people who weren’t willing to get _very_ close.

She’s saved from embarrassment by the phone ringing, and scrambles to pick it up. “Hello?”

_“You’ve been fighting with Alchemical Water and you didn’t tell me?”_

Kokoro looks at the caller ID and groans. Her manager. “Sorry…”

_“There are reporters practically breaking down my door, wanting to know if you’ve formed a formal team or not! Not to mention there are already rumors about a third member, Zoe Blecher?”_

“Already?” Kokoro hisses. Zoe had only started going out with them tonight!

 _“Are you or are you not planning to form a team with Alchemical Water?”_ her manager continues. _“I know you hate that this is necessary, but honestly, Kokoro, you have to tell me when something as major as a new teammate happens!”_

“We’re not a team…we’re just…kind of together?” She regrets her choice of words the minute she hears them come out of her mouth.

She hears a long sigh from her manager. _“That’s going to be even harder to control. You two need to declare your intent to become a team. The third girl might deflect suspicion that you’re a couple…”_

“What, _no,”_ Kokoro yelps, acutely aware of Undine politely waiting for her to finish her phone call so they can sleep. “Can we…can we talk about this tomorrow?”

 _“I’m contacting Alchemical’s manager first thing. Talk to Alchemical Water.”_ Her manager hangs up.

Kokoro turns back to Undine. “Sorry, that was…my manager.”

Undine immediately shifts to concerned. “Oh no, I’m sorry, I’ve made trouble for you…”

“Nonono, it’s my fault.” Kokoro slouches down against the wall, and Kicks, sensing distress, makes her way over to demand pets. “I haven’t told my manager about us, and now there’s reporters beating down her door.”

Undine sits down next to her and waits, in the patient, quiet way she has. She’s learning to tell when Kokoro isn’t finished talking. (And she knows Kokoro’s relationship with her manager is…complicated, to say the least of it.)

Kokoro sighs and fidgets with her hands. “I haven’t wanted to rush you into anything. You’ve been dealing with that goopy girl, and your team, and…”

“Kokoro.” Undine covers Kokoro’s hand with one of her own, fixes her with one of the intense stares she gets occasionally. “What is it?”

_Will you go on a date with me?_

“Will you form a team with me?” is what actually comes out. “A real one?”

Undine freezes, and Kokoro can practically see her dead teammates flashing across her mind, and Aether too…

“I’d love to,” she says, smiling, just as Kokoro’s going into a full-blown panic and opening her mouth to add a _you don’t have to, I just thought maybe…_ “I’ve been thinking…and it doesn’t feel right to use Alchemical Water anymore. That’s not me anymore.”

“Any ideas for a new title?” Kokoro asks, sagging slightly with relief.

Undine frowns. “Bud suggested Heartful Wave, but Harley punched her when she brought it up…”

The idea of Undine taking on her name, the name that’s meant _solo, loner, unlikely success_ for so long, makes Kokoro way too happy.

Even if it was probably a ship name, knowing Bud.

Undine gets up and goes to Kokoro’s bed, snuggling onto the side nearest the wall like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, and Kokoro follows, not knowing what else to do.

She falls asleep pressed against the girl she’s falling for, barely remembering to set her alarm before content, lazy exhaustion overtakes her.

**Author's Note:**

> yoyoyo look I'm still writing!  
> Sleepless Domain is an amazing webcomic drawn and written by Mary Cagle that I love very much! I moderate the Discord server for it, and writing fic was basically inevitable. I don't think I quite have their characters perfect, but that probably just means more fic at some point!  
> Thanks very much for reading!


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